Knitwear garment and method of knitting knitwear

ABSTRACT

Seamless knitwear of mixed set-in and raglan sleeves, and a method of knitting the same seamless knitwear. The knitwear of the present invention comprises a body and sleeves. A front body of the body has armhole parts and shoulder-line parts extending along one&#39;s shoulder line formed when wearing the knitwear, and a back body of the body has slant-line parts extending obliquely from neckline to side parts of the body. The front and back bodies are knitted in tubular form in a seamless manner, and the sleeves are knitted in tubular form in a seamless manner. The sleeves are joined to the armhole parts, the shoulder-line parts, and the slant-line parts of the front and back bodies in a seamless manner, and a neckline is formed by a part of the sleeves. The number of courses of the front and back bodies knitted in the course of joining of the sleeves to the armhole parts of the bodies is set so that the number of course of the back body knitted is decreased below the number of courses of the front body knitted. The number of courses of the front and back bodies knitted in the course of joining of the sleeves to the shoulder-line parts of the bodies is set so that the number of course of the back body knitted is increased over the number of courses of the front body knitted.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present invention relates to knitwear with sleeves and to a methodof knitting the knitwear with sleeves. Particularly, the presentinvention relates to knitwear having a unique armhole shape forattaching sleeves and to a knitting method of the same.

BACKGROUND ART

In general, armhole shapes for attaching sleeves of knitwear are roughlyclassified into a set-in sleeve type one and a raglan sleeve type one,as shown in JP Examined Patent Publication No. Hei 4-15301 (PatentDocument 1), and JP Laid-open (Unexamined) Patent Publication No.Hei-11-61603 (Patent Document 2), for example.

As for the set-in sleeve, as shown in FIG. 1 of Patent Document 1 andFIG. 1 of Patent Document 2, the front and back bodies are each knittedto have a hem part, side parts, armhole parts formed at upper ends ofthe side parts, and shoulder-line parts extending along one's shoulderline formed when wearing knitwear. The armhole parts are formed to havestraight-line portions extending in the same direction as the sideparts, from upper end portions of which the shoulder line parts extendtoward a neckline. After the sleeves are jointed to the front and backbodies along their respective armhole parts, the shoulder-line parts ofthe front and back bodies are joined together.

As for the raglan sleeve, as shown in FIG. 4 of Patent Document 1 andFIG. 11 of Patent Document 2, the front and back bodies are each knittedto have a hem part, side parts, slant-line parts slanted linearly fromupper ends of the side parts toward a neckline. The sleeves, which areknitted to cover one's arms and shoulder when wearing the knitwear, arejoined to the slant-line parts of the bodies so that a part of theneckline can be formed by upper end portions of the sleeves.

Meanwhile, knitwear of combination of one body shaped for the set-insleeve and the other body shaped for the raglan sleeve has never beenproposed so far. The reasons for no existence of such designed knitwearof mixed sleeves are as follows.

For the set-in sleeve, the body is formed to have, at the armhole partsthereof, the straight-line portions extending in the same direction asthe side parts, so that when joined to the straight-line portions of thebody, the set-in sleeves are sequentially joined thereto to form rightangle with the straight-line portions (Cf. FIG. 1 of Patent Document 2).

For the raglan sleeve, the body is formed to have the slant-line parts,so that when joined to the body, the raglan sleeves are sequentiallyjoined to the slant-line parts of the body obliquely (Cf. FIG. 11 ofPatent Document 2).

From comparison between the set-in sleeve and the raglan sleeve on aknitted fabric length of a joining portion of the sleeve to the body, itis found that the length of the slant-line parts for the raglan sleeveis larger than the length of the armhole parts for the set-in sleeve.Accordingly, the length of the joining portion of the sleeve joined tothe body shaped for the raglan sleeve is also larger than that of thejoining portion of the sleeve joined to the body shaped for the set-insleeve.

Thus, the set-in sleeve and the raglan sleeve provide different lengthsfor the joining portion between the body and the sleeve. Due to this,when the one body shaped for the set-in sleeve and the other body shapedfor the raglan sleeve are concurrently knitted with the same number ofcourses, the body shaped for the raglan sleeve cannot be coincidentallyjointed to the sleeves due to the difference in length of the joiningportion therebetween.

For the set-in sleeve, it is general that the body and the sleeves areoften knitted with a ratio of the number of courses of the body knittedto the number of courses of the sleeve knitted of 2:1, when joinedtogether. For the raglan sleeve, it is general that the body and thesleeves are often knitted with a ratio of the number of courses of thebody knitted to the number of courses of the sleeve knitted of 1:1, whenjoined together.

When the front and back bodies, one of which is shaped for the set-insleeve and the other of which is shaped for the raglan sleeve, and thesleeves are knitted with a ratio of the number of courses of the bodiesknitted to the number of courses of the sleeves knitted of 2:1, the bodyon the raglan sleeve side is oversupplied with the number of stitches atthe joining portion thereof.

When the front and back bodies and the sleeves are knitted with a ratioof the number of courses of the front body (set-in sleeve) knitted tothe number of courses of the sleeve knitted of 2:1 and with a ratio ofthe number of courses of the back body (raglan sleeve) knitted to thenumber of courses of the sleeve knitted of 1:1, the number of courses ofthe sleeves knitted required for joining together a shoulder portion ofthe set-in sleeve and a sleeve portion of the raglan sleeve at theshoulder parts is determined and the number of courses of the back bodyknitted with the ratio of the number of courses of the back body knittedto the number of courses of the sleeve knitted of 1:1 is alsodetermined.

Thus, regardless of the number of courses of the front body knitted, thenumber of courses of the back body knitted is determined, due to whichthe back body has an increased number of courses knitted over the frontbody and is put in oversupply.

For the reasons mentioned above, the knitwear of mixed set-in and raglansleeves is not yet commercialized successfully.

DISCLOSURE OF THE INVENTION

In consideration of the circumstances mentioned above, the presentinvention has been developed. It is an object of the present inventionto provide seamless knitwear of mixed set-in and raglan sleeves and amethod of knitting the same knitwear.

The present invention provides seamless knitwear of mixed set-in andraglan sleeves. The knitwear of the present invention comprises a bodyand sleeves. One of front and back bodies of the body has armhole partsand shoulder-line parts extending along one's shoulder line formed whenwearing the knitwear, and the other body has slant-line parts extendingobliquely from the neckline to side parts of the body.

The front body and the back body are knitted in tubular form in aseamless manner, and the sleeves are knitted in tubular form in aseamless manner. Also, the sleeves are joined to the armhole parts, theshoulder-line parts, slant-line parts of the front and back bodies in aseamless manner, so that a neckline is formed by a part of the sleeves.As to the number of courses of the front and back bodies knitted in thecourse of joining of the sleeves to the armhole parts of the bodies, thenumber of courses knitted of the body having the slant-line parts isdecreased below the number of courses of the body having theshoulder-line parts knitted.

As to the number of courses of front and back bodies knitted in thecourse of joining of the sleeves to the shoulder-line parts of thebodies, the number of courses of the body having the slant-line partsknitted is increased over the number of courses of the body having theshoulder-line parts knitted.

In this case, while parts of the sleeves to be joined to theshoulder-line parts are knitted with the number of courses knitted thatcan prevent shrink of the parts of the sleeves when joined to theshoulder-line parts, the parts of the sleeves and the shoulder-lineparts are joined together. Further, a ratio of the number of courses forthe sleeves and the body having the slant-line parts to be joinedtogether to the number of courses for the sleeves and the body havingthe slant-line parts to be knitted is set so that when the sleeves andthe body having the slant-line parts are joined together to match witheach other between the starting locations and the ending locations forjoining them together, no slack is produced in the joining parts of thesleeves and the body having the slant-line part, so that the sleeves andthe body are joined together in such a ratio. It should be noted thatthe shoulder line formed when a wearer wears the knitwear is determinedwith reference to a body shape of the wearer who wears the knitwear.

The body having the armhole parts and the shoulder-line parts extendingalong one's shoulder line formed when wearing the knitwear is aso-called set-in sleeve use body.

The body shaped for the set-in sleeve is knitted to have a hem part,side parts, armhole parts formed to extend from upper ends of the sideparts, and shoulder-line parts extending along one's shoulder lineformed when wearing the knitwear. The armhole parts have straight-lineparts extending in the same direction as the side parts, and theshoulder-line parts are formed to extend from upper ends of thestraight-line parts toward the neckline.

The shoulder-line parts may be formed to extend in parallel with the hempart and extend orthogonally to the straight-line parts of the armholeparts, or may alternatively be formed to slant with respect to the hempart so as to form shoulder drops.

The body having slant-line parts extending obliquely from the necklineto the side parts of the body is a so-called raglan-sleeve use body.

The body shaped for the raglan sleeve is knitted to have a hem part,side parts, and slant-line parts formed to extend obliquely andsubstantially linearly from upper ends of the side parts toward theneckline.

Further, it is preferable that knitting parts of the sleeves are knittedto have, at parts thereof joined to the body, armhole-part joining partsto be joined to the armhole parts, shoulder-line-part joining parts,extending continuously to the armhole-part joining parts, to be jointedto the shoulder-line parts, slant-line-part joining parts to be jointedto the slant-line parts, and neckline forming parts formed between upperends of the slant-line-part joining parts and upper ends of theshoulder-line-part joining parts.

Concretely, one body is formed so that the shoulder-line parts can belocated below the shoulder line formed by one's shoulder line whenwearing the knitwear.

When the sleeves are divided into two halves of the front-body-sidesleeve and the back-body-side sleeve, the knitting parts of the sleeveare formed as described below at parts thereof joined to the body. Theknitting parts of the sleeve on the side thereof joined to theshoulder-line parts have trapezoidal knitting parts having armhole-partjoining parts and rectangular knitting parts formed above and continuouswith the trapezoidal knitting parts and having shoulder-line-partjoining parts. In this formation, when the joining of the rectangularknitting parts to the shoulder-line parts is ended, upper ends of therectangular knitting parts form a part of the neckline.

Also, the knitting parts of the sleeve on the side thereof joined to theslant-line parts have triangular knitting parts joined to the slant-lineparts. The trapezoidal knitting parts and the rectangular knitting partsare knitted to be continuous with the triangular knitting parts.

As a result of the sleeves being knitted in this manner, when the wearerwears the knitwear, his/her shoulder is covered with a part of thesleeves.

Further, the number of courses of the front and back bodies knitted inthe course of joining of the sleeves to the armhole parts of the bodiesis set so that when the sleeves are joined to the armhole parts, thenumber of courses knitted of the body having the shoulder-line parts isdecreased below the number of courses knitted of the body having theslant-line parts. Also, the number of courses of the front and backbodies knitted in the course of joining of the sleeves to theshoulder-line parts of the bodies is set so that when the sleeves arejoined to the shoulder-line parts, the number of courses knitted of thebody having the shoulder-line parts is increased over the number ofcourses knitted of the body having the slant-line parts.

When the sleeves are joined to the shoulder-line parts, the sleeves arejoined thereto while being knitted with the number of courses knittedthat can prevent formation of shrink in the sleeves when joined to theshoulder-line parts. Then, a ratio of the number of courses for thesleeves and the body having the slant-line parts to be joined togetherto the number of courses knitted of the sleeves and the body having theslant-line parts is set so that when the sleeves and the body having theslant-line parts are joined together to match with each other betweenthe starting locations and the ending locations for joining themtogether, no slack is produced in the joining parts of the sleeves andthe body having the slant-line part, so that the sleeves are joined tothe body in such a ratio.

Concretely, when the sleeves are joined to the shoulder-line parts, anumber of courses knitted required for the sleeves to be joined to theshoulder-line parts is determined according to lengths of the shoulderlines. Then, the total number of courses of the front and back bodiesknitted from the start of joining of the sleeves and the body to the endof the joining is also determined from the shapes of the front and backbodies.

Referring now to the body having the slant-line parts, the number ofremaining courses to be knitted in the 4th step mentioned later can becalculated by subtracting the number of courses already knitted in the3rd step mentioned later from the total number of courses knitted.

When the sleeves are joined to the shoulder-line parts, with referenceto the number of remaining courses of the body thus calculated and thenumber of courses knitted of the sleeves, the ratio of the number ofcourses of the sleeves to the number of courses knitted of the bodyhaving the slant-line parts is determined so that the sleeves and thebody having the slant-line parts can be joined together to match witheach other between the starting locations and the ending locations forjoining together the sleeves and the body having the slant-line partsand also the joining parts of the sleeves and the body can be preventedfrom being slackened.

Since the knitwear of the present invention is knitted in the mannerdescribed above, the seamless knitwear of mixed set-in and raglansleeves can be formed without any slack being produced in one of thefront and back bodies.

Also, the present invention can provide a knitwear knitting methoddescribed below, in order that knitwear of mixed set-in and raglansleeves can be knitted without any need of sewing operations.

The present invention provides a method of knitting knitwear withsleeves formed by using a flat knitting machine having at least a pairof front and back needle beds extending in a transverse direction anddisposed opposite to each other in a cross direction, at least either ofwhich is capable of being racked in the transverse direction so thatloops can be transferred between the front and back needle beds.

The method comprising the following steps for forming armhole parts andshoulder-line parts extending along one's shoulder line formed whenwearing the knitwear in any one of a front body and a back body and alsoforming slant-line parts extending obliquely from a neckline to sideparts of the body:

1) the first step of knitting the front body and the back body intubular form from their hem parts to starting locations for joining thebody and the sleeves and knitting the sleeves in tubular form from theirsleeve cuff parts,

2) the second step of joining the sleeves to the armhole parts and theslant-line parts, while knitting the front and back bodies and thesleeves with the same number of courses knitted from starting locationsfor the body and the sleeves to be joined together to locations on thearmhole parts,

3) the third step of increasing the number of courses knitted of thebody having the shoulder-line parts over the number of courses knittedof the body having the slant-line parts from locations at which theknitting of the armhole parts starts after the second step to locationsat which the knitting of the shoulder-line parts start and also joiningthe sleeves to the armhole parts and the slant-line parts, while thesleeves are knitted, and

4) the fourth step of joining the bodies to the sleeves, while the bodyhaving the slant-line parts is knitted with an increased number ofcourses over the number of courses knitted of the body having theshoulder-line parts and also the sleeve parts joined to theshoulder-line parts are knitted with the number of courses knitted thatcan prevent formation of slack in the sleeves joined to theshoulder-line parts, and also setting a ratio of the number of coursesfor the sleeves and the body having the slant-line parts to be joinedtogether to the number of courses knitted of the sleeves and the bodyhaving the slant-line parts so that when the sleeves and the body havingthe slant-line parts are joined together to match with each otherbetween the starting locations and the ending locations for joining themtogether, no slack is produced in the joining parts of the sleeves andthe body having the slant-line part, whereby the sleeves are joined tothe shoulder-line parts and the slant-line parts in such a ratio, whilethe sleeves are knitted.

In the first step, the knitting of the front body and the back body intubular form and the knitting of the sleeves in tubular form areperformed concurrently.

In the second step, the body and the sleeves are joined together, whilebeing knitted with the number of stitches being gradually decreased.

In the third step, the body having the shoulder-line parts is knittedwithout increasing or decreasing the number of stitches (wales) at thearmhole forming parts thereof. The knitting parts of the sleeves (thetrapezoidal knitting parts) on the side thereof joined to the armholeparts are joined to the armhole parts, while being knitted with thenumber of stitches being gradually decreased.

In the third step, the body having the slant-line parts is knitted,while the number of stitches on the side thereof joined to the sleevesis gradually decreased for each predetermined course. The knitting partsof the sleeves (the triangular knitting parts) on the side thereofjoined to the slant-line parts are also gradually decreased in number ofstitches so that the number of times the side thereof joined to theslant-line parts is decreased in number of stitches below theslant-line-part side can be increased.

Further, in the third step, the body having the shoulder-line parts andthe body having the slant-line parts are preferably knitted to be in thenumber-of-course-knitted ratio of 2:1. The body may be knitted with saidnumber-of-course-knitted ratio and an alternate number-of-course-knittedratio (e.g. 2:1 and 1:1) being repeated in an alternate order, dependingon the shape of the body.

Also, in the third step, the body having the shoulder-line parts, thebody having the slant-line parts, and the sleeves are preferably knittedto be in the number-of-course-knitted ratios of 4:3:2.

Since the number of courses knitted of the body on the slant-line-partside is decreased below that of the body on the armhole-part side in thethird step, when the body and the sleeves are joined together, no slackis produced in the one body.

In the fourth step, when the shoulder drop is formed in the body havingthe shoulder line parts, the body is knitted to form the shoulder lineparts, with the number of stitches on the side thereof joined to thesleeves being gradually decreased. On the other hand, when the shoulderdrop is not formed therein, the stitches are held on the needles withoutbeing knitted. The knitting parts of the sleeves (the rectangularknitting parts) on the side thereof joined to the shoulder-line partsare knitted in rectangle form without increasing or decreasing thestitches (wales) and are sequentially joined to the shoulder-line parts.

In the fourth step, the body having the slant-line parts is knitted,while the number of stitches on the side thereof joined to the sleevesis gradually decreased for each predetermined course, as is the casewith the third step. The knitting parts of the sleeves (the triangularknitting parts) on the side thereof joined to the slant-line parts arealso gradually decreased in number of stitches so that the number oftimes the side thereof joined to the slant-line parts is decreased innumber of stitches below the slant-line-part side can be increased.

Further, in the fourth step, the body having the shoulder-line parts andthe body having the slant-line parts are preferably knitted to be in thenumber-of-course-knitted ratio of e.g. 1:2. The body may be knitted withsaid number-of-course-knitted ratio and an alternatenumber-of-course-knitted ratio (e.g. 1:2 and 1:1) being repeated in analternate order, depending on the shape of the body.

When the shoulder drop is not formed in the body, the number of coursesknitted of the body having the shoulder-line parts is zero, so that onlythe body having the slant-line parts is knitted. In the fourth step,while the body having the slant-line parts is knitted, the sleeves arealso knitted.

Further, in the fourth step, the sleeve parts joined to theshoulder-line parts are joined to the shoulder-line parts, while beingknitted with the number of courses knitted that can prevent shrink ofthe sleeves when joined to the shoulder-line parts. Then, the sleevesand the body having the slant-line parts are joined together so that aratio of the number of courses for the sleeves and the body having theslant-line parts to be joined together to the number of courses of thesleeves and the body knitted can be set so that when the sleeves and thebody having the slant-line parts are joined together to match with eachother between the starting locations and the ending locations forjoining them together, no slack is produced in the joining parts of thesleeves and the body having the slant-line parts.

In the fourth step, before knitting, a number of courses knittedrequired for the sleeves to be joined to the shoulder line parts isdetermined according to lengths of the shoulder lines, and the totalnumber of courses of the front and back bodies knitted from the start ofjoining of the sleeves and the body to the end of joining is alsodetermined from the shapes of the front body and the back body.

As to the body having the slant-line parts, the number of remainingcourses to be knitted in the fourth step can be calculated bysubtracting the number of courses already knitted in the third step fromthe total number of courses knitted.

In the fourth step, with reference to the number of remaining courses ofthe body and the number of courses of the sleeves knitted, the ratio ofthe number of courses of the sleeves to the number of courses of thebody having the slant-line parts knitted is determined. This ratio isset so that the sleeves and the body having the slant-line parts canmatch with each other between the starting locations and the endinglocations of the sleeves and the body having the slant-line parts andalso the joining parts of the sleeves and the body having the slant-lineparts can be prevented from being slackened. The sleeves and the bodyare sequentially joined together in this ratio.

In the fourth step, the difference in number of stitches between thefront and back bodies, which was caused by decreasing the number ofcourses knitted of the body having the slant-line parts below the numberof courses knitted of the body having the shoulder-line parts in thethird step, can be made up by increasing the number of courses knittedof the body having the slant-line parts over the number of courses ofthe body having the shoulder-line parts in the fourth step.

Further, when the joining of the sleeves to the front and back bodies isended, a part of the neckline is formed by upper ends of the rectangularknitting parts. The neckline parts of the rectangular knitting parts andthe neckline parts formed in the front and back bodies are continuouslyjoined together and thereby the neckline is formed.

According to the present invention, the knitwear can be knitted so thatthe set-in sleeve is formed in the front body and the raglan sleeve isformed in the back body. Alternatively, the knitwear may be knitted sothat the raglan sleeve is formed in the front body and the set-in sleeveis formed in the back body.

As mentioned above, the present invention can provide seamless knitwearof mixed set-in and raglan sleeves without any slack being formed in oneof the bodies.

In the knitting method of the present invention, since the number ofcourses knitted of the body on the slant-line-part side is decreasedbelow that of the body on the armhole-part side in the third step, whenthe body and the sleeves are joined together, no slack is produced inthe one body.

Further, in the fourth step, the difference in number of stitchesbetween the front and back bodies, which was caused by decreasing thenumber of courses knitted of the body having the slant-line parts belowthe number of courses knitted of the body having the shoulder-line partsin the third step, can be made up by increasing the number of coursesknitted of the body having the slant-line parts over the number ofcourses of the body having the shoulder-line parts in the fourth step.

Further, in the fourth step, the sleeve parts joined to theshoulder-line parts are joined to the shoulder-line parts, while beingknitted with the number of courses knitted that can prevent shrink ofthe sleeves when joined to the shoulder-line parts. In addition, a ratioof the number of courses for the sleeves and the body having theslant-line parts to be joined together to the number of courses of thesleeves and the body knitted is set so that when the sleeves and thebody having the slant-line parts are joined together to match with eachother between the starting locations and the ending locations forjoining them together, no slack is produced in the joining parts of thesleeves and the body having the slant-line parts. The sleeves are joinedto the shoulder-line parts and the slant-line parts, while being knittedin this ratio. Therefore, even when the body and the sleeves are joinedtogether, the one body can be prevented from being slacked and the otherbody can be prevented from being shrunk.

As described above, according to the knitting method of the presentinvention, the seamless knitwear of mixed set-in and raglan sleeves canbe knitted without forming any slack in the one body.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 shows an embodiment of knitwear according to the presentinvention, (a) showing a front view of a sweater as viewed from a frontbody side, and (b) showing a rear view of the same as viewed from a backbody side.

FIG. 2 shows the embodiment of the knitwear according to the presentinvention, showing the state of parts of the sweater being to be knittedon a flat knitting machine.

FIG. 3 shows the embodiment of the knitwear according to the presentinvention, showing a partly enlarged view of the respective parts ofjoining portions of the front and back bodies to the sleeves.

FIG. 4 shows a knitting process drawing of the third step of a knitwearknitting method of the present invention.

FIG. 5 shows a knitting process drawing of the fourth step of theknitwear knitting method of the present invention.

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION

An embodiment on knitwear with sleeves and an embodiment on a methodthereof according to the present invention will be described withreference to the accompanying drawings.

In the illustrated embodiment, knitwear is knitted using a so-calledtwo-bed flat knitting machine comprising a pair of front and back needlebeds extending in a transverse direction and disposed opposite to eachother in a cross direction, the back needle bed being capable of beingracked so that loops can be transferred between the front and backneedle beds.

In the two-bed flat knitting machine, alternate needles on each of thefront and back needle beds are used to knit a tubular knitwear. Forexample, odd needles of the front needle bed are used mainly forknitting front parts of the knitwear, such as the front body and frontparts of the sleeves, and even needles of the back needle bed are usedmainly for knitting back parts of the knitwear, such as the back bodyand back parts of the sleeves.

Further, needles on one of the front and back needle beds which confrontthe knitting needles on the other needle bed are used as empty needles.The empty needles are used for transference of loops and for the ribknitting and the like.

Using the empty needles can allow a structure pattern of mixed front andback stitches, such as links, purl stitches, and ribs to be knitted andcan also allow the loops of the sleeves and the bodies to move in adirection of course so as to join them to each other.

When the two-bed flat knitting machine is used, a transfer jack bedarranging transfer jacks thereon may be disposed over either or both ofthe front and back needle beds, to knit a knitted fabric.

In the illustrated embodiment, the two-bed flat knitting machine is usedto knit knitwear. According to the present invention, a four-bed flatknitting machine comprising an upper front needle bed, a lower frontneedle bed, an upper back needle bed, and a lower back needle bed mayalternatively be used to knit the knitwear.

When the four-bed flat knitting machine is used to knit knitwear, forexample front knitted fabric parts are supplied to the lower frontneedle bed, and back knitted fabric parts are supplied to the lower backneedle bed. Then, when knitting the front knitted fabric parts, theneedles of the upper back needle bed are used as empty needles fortransference of loops of the front knitted fabric parts. When knittingthe back knitted fabric parts, needles of the upper front needle bed areused as empty needles for transference of loops of the back knittedfabric parts.

Illustrated in this embodiment are a method of knitting bodies andsleeves of knitwear seamlessly using a two-bed flat knitting machine sothat the bodies and the sleeves can be formed into a seamless andcontinuous tubular form and knitwear knitted by the same knittingmethod.

An embodiment of the present invention is explained with reference toFIG. 1 to FIG. 5. In FIGS. 4 and 5, open circles on a line representinga sequence of knitting actions indicate locations where a narrowingstitch of the body or the sleeve is performed.

A sweater 1 knitted in this embodiment is a long sleeved sweater havinga V-necked neckline. The sweater 1 of this embodiment has a body 2, aleft sleeve 3, a right sleeve 13, and a neckline 4.

A front body 2 a and a back body 2 b are different in shape at theirparts located above the points A, a, G, g in FIG. 2 at which the joiningof the sleeves to the bodies starts.

The front body 2 a has a hem part 21 a, side parts 22 a, armhole parts23, and shoulder-line parts 24, as shown in FIG. 2. The front body 2 ais a so-called set-in sleeve use body.

The armhole parts 23 are formed from upper ends of the side parts 22 a,22 b (locations A, a of FIG. 2) and have straight-line parts (B-C, b-cof FIG. 2) extending in the same direction as the side parts. Theshoulder-line parts 24 are formed from upper ends of the straight-lineparts (locations C, c of FIG. 2) toward the neckline 4. Theshoulder-line parts 24 are formed along one's shoulder line formed whenwearing the knitwear. The shoulder-line parts 24 are slanted downwardlyfrom the neckline 4, with shoulder-drop knitting parts 25 formed at theshoulder parts of the front body 2 a. Further, the front body 2 a isformed so that the shoulder-line parts 24 can be located below one'sshoulder line formed when wearing the knitwear.

The back body 2 b has a hem part 21 b, side parts 22 b, and slant-lineparts 26 extending obliquely from the neckline 4 (locations K, k of FIG.2) to side parts of the body (locations G, g of FIG. 2), as shown inFIG. 2. The back body 2 b is a so-called raglan sleeve use body.

Knitting parts of the right and left sleeves 3, 13 have, at joiningparts thereof to the body 2, armhole-part joining parts 31 to be joinedto the armhole parts 23, shoulder-line-part joining parts 32 to bejointed to the shoulder-line parts 24, slant-line-part joining parts 33to be jointed to the slant-line parts 26, and neckline forming parts 34,as shown in FIGS. 2 and 3.

The shoulder-line-part joining parts 32 are formed to extendcontinuously from the armhole-part joining parts 31. The necklineforming parts 34 are formed between upper ends of the slant-line-partjoining parts 33 and upper ends of the shoulder-line-part joining parts32.

Further, knitting parts of the right and left sleeves 3, 13 have, atjoining parts thereof to the body 2, trapezoidal knitting parts 35having the armhole-part joining parts 31, rectangular knitting parts 36having the shoulder-line-part joining parts 32, and triangular knittingparts 37 having the slant-line-part joining parts 33, as shown in FIG.3.

Each rectangular knitting part 36 is knitted to extend upwardly from andcontinuously with the trapezoidal knitting part 35. The trapezoidalknitting part 35 and the rectangular knitting part 36 are knitted toextend continuously with the triangular knitting part 37 with respect toa transverse direction. The upper end of the rectangular knitting part36, when joined to the shoulder-line part 24, forms a part of theneckline forming part 34.

In the illustrated embodiment, the front body 2 a and the back body 2 bare knitted in tubular form in a seamless manner and the sleeves 3, 13are also knitted in tubular form in a seamless manner. The sleeves 3, 13are joined to the front body 2 a at the armhole parts 23 and theshoulder-line parts 24 in a seamless manner and to the back body 2 b atthe slant-line parts 26 in a seamless manner.

When the sleeves 3, 13 are sequentially joined to the body 2, the numberof courses of the front body 2 a and the back body 2 b to be knittedwhen the sleeves 3, 13 are joined to the armhole parts 23 of the frontbody 2 a are provided in such a manner that the number of courses of theback body 2 b knitted can be decreased below the number of courses ofthe front body 2 a knitted. The number of courses of the front body 2 aand the back body 2 b to be knitted when the sleeves 3, 13 are joined tothe shoulder-line parts 24 of the front body 2 a are provided in such amanner that the number of courses of the back body 2 b knitted can beincreased over the number of courses of the front body 2 a knitted.

After completion of the joining of the sleeves 3, 13 and the body 2, apart of the neckline 4 is formed by the neckline forming parts 34.

In the illustrated embodiment, the terms, “right” and “left”, used forthe body and the sleeves and for the shoulder line, like the left sleeve3 and the right sleeve 13, indicate the right-hand side and theleft-hand side of the knitwear as viewed from a wearer who wears thesweater 1.

Next, the steps for knitting the sweater 1 of this embodiment aredescribed. In this embodiment, the back body 2 b, the right back sleeve13 b, and the left back sleeve 3 b are knitted mainly with odd needleson the back needle bed, and the front body 2 a, the right front sleeve13 a, and the left front sleeve 3 a are knitted mainly with even needleson the front needle bed.

For convenience of explanation, the front body 2 a, the back body 2 b,and the sleeves 3, 13 of the sweater 1 are knitted in a plain knittingpattern, and the hem parts of the body 2 and sleeve cuff parts of thesleeves 3, 13 are knitted in a rib knitting pattern. Alternatively, thefront body 2 a, the back body 2 b and the sleeves 3, 13 may be knittedin a jacquard knitting pattern or a rib knitting pattern.

First, a tubular body and tubular right and left sleeves are knitted byrepetition of the knitting step of feeding a knitting yarn to theneedles for knitting the front body from a body knitting use yarn feeder(not shown) and then feeding the knitting yarn therefrom to the needlesfor knitting the back body, while reversing the yarn feeder, and byrepetition of the same knitting steps using a sleeve knitting use yarnfeeder (not shown).

To be more specific, the front body 2 a and the back body 2 b areknitted in tubular form from their hem parts to starting locations (A,a, G, g) for joining to the sleeves. The left front sleeve part 3 a andthe left back sleeve part 3 b are knitted in tubular form from thesleeve cuff parts to the starting locations (K, P) for joining to thebody. The right front sleeve part 13 a and the right back sleeve part 13b are knitted in tubular form from the sleeve cuff parts to the startinglocations (k, p) for joining to the body (1st step). The hem parts ofthe body and the sleeve cuff parts are knitted by rib knitting.

In the sweater 1, the front body 2 a at the locations A, a are joined tothe left front sleeve part 3 a at the location K and the right frontsleeve part 13 a at the location k, and the back body 2 b at thelocations G, g are joined to the left back sleeve part 3 b at thelocation P and the right back sleeve part 13 b at the location p. Whenthe body 2 and the left and right sleeves 3, 13 start being joinedtogether, the body 2 and the left and right sleeves 3, 13 are combinedto form a single tubular body.

From the starting locations (A-K, a-k, G-P, g-p) for joining togetherthe body 2 and the sleeves 3, 13 to locations (B, b) on the armholeparts 23 and locations (H, h) on the slant-line parts 26, the front body2 a, the back body 2 b, and the sleeves 3, 13 are knitted with the samenumber of courses knitted, while the sleeves 3, 13 are joined to thearmhole parts 23 and the slant-line parts 26 (2nd step).

In the 2nd step, the left sleeve 3 is knitted to L-Q and the rightsleeve 13 is knitted to l-q. Further, in the 2nd step, the front body 2a, the back body 2 b, and the sleeves 3, 13 are all gradually decreasedin number of stitches at their joining parts.

Then, after the 2nd step, from the locations (B, b) on the armhole parts23 to starting locations (C, c) for forming the shoulder-line parts 24,the front body 2 a and the back body 2 b are knitted so that the numberof courses of the front body 2 a knitted can be increased over thenumber of courses of the back body 2 b knitted. In parallel with this,the sleeves 3, 13 are knitted, while the sleeves 3, 13 are joined to thearmhole parts 23 and the slant-line parts 26 (3rd Step).

After the neckline 4 starts being formed in the front body 2 a, the body2 and the sleeves 3, 13 are knitted by a process of sequentiallyknitting a left-side part of the front body 2 a, the left front sleevepart 3 a, the left back sleeve part 3 b, the back body 2 b, the rightback sleeve part 13 b, the right front sleeve part 13 a, and aright-side part of the front body 2 a, followed by the knitting of thosein the reverse sequence. Then, while they are knitted in this manner,the front body 2 a and the left front sleeve part 3 a are joinedtogether; the left back sleeve part 3 b and the right back sleeve part13 b are joined to the back body 2 b; and the front body 2 a and theright front sleeve part 13 a are joined together.

The knitting of the 3rd step is explained concretely with reference toFIG. 4. In FIG. 4, the back body 2 b, the left back sleeve part 3 b, andthe right back sleeve part 13 b are depicted by a thick line, and thefront body 2 a, the left front sleeve part 3 a, and the right frontsleeve part 13 a are depicted by a thin line. FIG. 4 shows the state inwhich the neckline 4 has just started being formed in the front body 2a.

In the 3rd step, the knitting proceeds by repeating the knitting of an“a” pattern and the knitting of a “b” pattern in an alternate order, orrepeating only the knitting of the “b” pattern several times in thecourse of the alternate repetition of the a•b patterns.

In the knitting of the “a” pattern, the back parts of the sweater areknitted one course by sequentially knitting the right back sleeve part13 b, the back body 2 b, and the left back sleeve part 3 b, first, and,then, the left front sleeve part 3 a is knitted one course. Then, afterthe left half of the front body 2 a is knitted four courses in total bya flechage knitting, the left front sleeve part 3 a is knitted onecourse. Then, the left back sleeve part 3 b is knitted one course. Then,after the back body 2 b is knitted three courses by the flechageknitting, the right back sleeve part 13 b is knitted one course. Then,the right front sleeve part 13 a is knitted one course. Then, after theright half of the front body 2 a is knitted four courses in total by theflechage knitting, the right front sleeve part 13 a is knitted onecourse. After the processes described above, the knitting of the “a”pattern is ended.

In the knitting of the “a” pattern, a ratio of the number of courses ofthe front body 2 a knitted to the number of courses of the back body 2 bknitted is 1:1; a ratio of the number of courses of the front body 2 aknitted to the number of courses of the front sleeve parts 3 a, 13 aknitted is 2:1; and a ratio of the number of courses of the back body 2b knitted to the number of courses of the back sleeve parts 3 b, 13 b is2:1.

In the knitting of the “b” pattern, the back parts of the sweater areknitted one course by sequentially knitting the right back sleeve part13 b, the back body 2 b, and the left back sleeve part 3 b, first, and,then, the left front sleeve part 3 a is knitted one course. Then, afterthe left half of the front body 2 a is knitted four courses in total bythe flechage knitting, the left front sleeve part 3 a is knitted onecourse. Then, after the back parts are knitted one course bysequentially knitting the left back sleeve part 3 b, the back body 2 b,and the right back sleeve part 13 b, the right front sleeve part 13 a isknitted one course. Then, after the right half part of the front body 2a is knitted four courses in total by the flechage knitting, the rightfront sleeve part 13 a is knitted one course. After the processesdescribed above, the knitting of the “b” pattern is ended.

In the knitting of the “b” pattern, the ratio of the number of coursesof the front body 2 a knitted to the number of courses of the back body2 b knitted is 2:1; the ratio of the number of courses of the front body2 a knitted to the number of courses of the front sleeve parts 3 a, 13 aknitted is 2:1; and the ratio of the number of courses of the back body2 b knitted to the number of courses of the back sleeve parts 3 b, 13 bis 1:1.

In the 3rd step, the trapezoidal knitting part 35 having thearmhole-part joining part 31, and a part of the triangular knitting part37 having the slant-line-part joining part 33 are knitted in the sleeve3(13), as shown in FIG. 3. Further, in the 3rd step, the back body 2 band the sleeves 3, 13 are gradually decreased in number of stitches atends thereof on the side on which the body and the sleeves are joinedtogether so that the number of stitches of the front body 2 a can havethe same wale at ends thereof on the side on which the body and thesleeves are joined together.

The 3rd step can provide the result that even when a ratio of the numberof courses of the front body 2 a knitted to the number of courses of thefront sleeve parts 3 a, 13 a knitted is 2:1 and a ratio of the number ofcourses of the back body 2 b knitted to the number of courses of theback sleeve parts 3 b, 13 b knitted is 3:2, since the back body 2 b issmaller in number of courses knitted than the front body 2 a, the backbody 2 b can be prevented from being oversupplied when the body 2 andthe sleeves 3, 13 are joined together.

After the 3rd step of joining together the sleeves 3, 13 and the body 2proceeds to the starting locations (C, c) of the shoulder-line part 24,the 4th step proceeds.

In the 4th step, the sleeves are joined to the shoulder-line parts,while the number of courses of the back body 2 b knitted is increasedover the number of courses of the front body 2 a knitted and also thesleeves to be joined to the shoulder-line parts are knitted with thenumber of courses knitted that can prevent shrink of the sleeves whenjoined to the shoulder-line parts. Further, a ratio of the number ofcourses for the sleeves 3, 13 and the back body 2 a to be joinedtogether to the number of courses of the sleeves 3, 13 and the back body2 b knitted is set so that when the sleeves 3, 13 and the back body 2 bare joined together to match with each other between the startinglocations and the ending locations for joining them together, no slackis produced in the joining parts of the sleeves 3, 13 and the back body2 b. While the sleeves 3, 13 are knitted in such a ratio, the sleeves 3,13 are joined to the shoulder-line parts 24 and the slant-line parts 26.

Further, the knitting of the 4th step is explained concretely withreference to FIG. 5. In FIG. 5, the back body 2 b, the left back sleevepart 3 b, and the right back sleeve part 13 b are depicted by the thickline, and the front body 2 a, the left front sleeve part 3 a, and theright front sleeve part 13 a are depicted by the thin line. FIG. 5 showsthe state in which the shoulder drop knitting parts 25 has just startedbeing formed in the front body 2 a.

In the 4th step, the knitting proceeds by repeating the knitting of a“c” pattern and the knitting of a “d” pattern in an alternate order, orrepeating only the knitting of the “d” pattern several times in thecourse of the alternate repetition of the c•d patterns.

In the knitting of the “c” pattern, the back parts of the sweater areknitted one course by sequentially knitting the right back sleeve part13 b, the back body 2 b, and the left back sleeve part 3 b, first, and,then, the left front sleeve part 3 a is knitted two courses by theflechage knitting and the left back sleeve part 3 b is knitted twocourses by the flechage knitting. Then, after the left front sleeve part3 a and the left half of the front body 2 a is knitted one course andthen flechaged. Then, the left half of the front body 2 a and the leftfront sleeve part 3 a are knitted one course. Then, the back parts ofthe sweater are knitted one course by sequentially knitting the leftback sleeve part 3 b, the back body 2 b, and the right back sleeve part13 b, first, and, then, the right front sleeve part 13 a is knitted twocourses by the flechage knitting. Then, the right back sleeve part 13 bis knitted two courses by the flechage knitting. Then, the right frontsleeve part 13 a and the right half of the front body 2 a are knittedone course and then flechaged. Then, the right half of the front body 2a and the right front sleeve part 13 a are knitted one course. After theprocesses described above, the knitting of the “c” pattern is ended.

In the knitting of the “c” pattern, the ratio of the number of coursesof the front body 2 a knitted to the number of courses of the back body2 b knitted is 1:1; the ratio of the number of courses of the front body2 a knitted to the number of courses of the front sleeve parts 3 a, 13 aknitted is 1:2; and the ratio of the number of courses of the back body2 b knitted to the number of courses of the back sleeve parts 3 b, 13 bis 1:2.

In the knitting of the “d” pattern, the back parts of the sweater areknitted one course by sequentially knitting the right back sleeve part13 b, the back body 2 b, and the left back sleeve part 3 b, first, and,then, the left front sleeve part 3 a is knitted two courses by theflechage knitting. Then, after the back parts of the sweater are knittedone course by sequentially knitting the left back sleeve part 3 b, theback body 2 b, and the right back sleeve part 13 b, the right frontsleeve part 13 a is knitted two courses by the flechage knitting. Then,after the back parts of the sweater are knitted one course bysequentially knitting the right back sleeve part 13 b, the back body 2b, and the left back sleeve part 3 b, the left front sleeve part 3 a andthe left half of the front body 2 a are knitted one course and thenflechaged. Then, the left half of the front body 2 a and the left frontsleeve part 3 a are knitted one course. Then, after the back parts ofthe sweater are knitted one course by sequentially knitting the leftback sleeve part 3 b, the back body 2 b, and the right back sleeve part13 b, the right front sleeve part 13 a and the right half of the frontbody 2 a are knitted one course and then flechaged. Then, the right halfof the front body 2 a and the right front sleeve part 13 a are knittedone course. After the processes described above, the knitting of the “d”pattern is ended.

In the knitting of the “d” pattern, the ratio of the number of coursesof the front body 2 a knitted to the number of courses of the back body2 b knitted is 1:2; the ratio of the number of courses of the front body2 a knitted to the number of courses of the front sleeve parts 3 a, 13 aknitted is 1:2; and the ratio of the number of courses of the back body2 b knitted to the number of courses of the back sleeve parts 3 b, 13 bis 1:1.

In the 4th step, the rectangular knitting part 36 knitted above andcontinuously with the trapezoidal knitting part 35 and the triangularknitting part 37 are knitted in the sleeve 3(13). Then, the sleeves 3,13 are joined to the body by joining the shoulder-line-part joiningparts 32 to the shoulder-line parts 24 and joining the slant-line-partjoining parts 33 to the slant-line-part 26. When the joining of theseparts is ended, the neckline forming parts 34 are formed between theshoulder-line-part joining parts 32 and the slant-line-part joiningparts 33. In the 4th step, the shoulder drop knitting parts 25 of thefront body 2 a, the back body 2 b, and the back sleeve parts 3 b, 13 bare gradually decreased in number of stitches at ends thereof on theside on which the body and the sleeves are joined together.

Further, in the 4th step, a number of courses knitted required for thesleeves 3, 13 to be joined to the shoulder line parts 24 is previouslydetermined according to lengths of the shoulder lines before theknitting. For example, when the number of wales of the shoulder lineparts 24 are 20 stitches, the number of courses of the sleeves 3, 13knitted are doubled to 40.

Then, the total number of courses of the front and back bodies knittedfrom the start of joining of the sleeves and the body to the end ofjoining is also previously determined from the shapes of the front bodyand the back body. For example, in FIG. 2, a total sum of stitchesobtained by adding the number of wales between T and U or t and u of thesleeves 3, 13 (e.g. 14 stitches) to the number of courses between F, fand D, d of the front body 2 a (e.g. 64 stitches) is the total number ofcourses knitted (78 stitches).

As to the back body 2 b, the number of remaining courses to be knittedin the 4th step (30 stitches) can be calculated by subtracting thenumber of courses already knitted in the 3rd step (e.g. 48 stitches)from the total number of courses knitted (78 stitches).

In the 4th step, with reference to the number of remaining courses ofthe body (30 stitches) and the number of courses of the sleeves knitted(40 stitches), the ratio of the number of courses of the sleeves 3, 13to the number of courses of the back body 2 b knitted is determined tobe 4:3 so that the sleeves 3, 13 and the back body 2 b can be joinedtogether to match with each other between the starting locations and theending locations for joining together the sleeves 3, 13 and the backbody 2 b and also the joining parts of the sleeves 3, 13 and the backbody 2 b can be prevented from being slackened.

In the 4th step, the difference in number of stitches between the backbody 2 b and the front body 2 a, which was caused by decreasing thenumber of courses of the back body 2 b knitted below the number ofcourses of the front body 2 a knitted in the 3rd step, can be made up byincreasing the number of courses of the back body 2 b knitted over thenumber of courses of the front body 2 a in the 4th step.

When the joining of the body 2 and the sleeves 3, 13 is completed, theloops of the neckline (K-k of FIG. 2) of the back body 2 b are held onthe back needle bed. When the rectangular knitting parts 36 are formed,the neckline 4 is formed by the front and back bodies 2 and the sleeves3, 13. On the other hand, when the sleeves and the bodies are joined upto the centers of the sleeves by the knitting method of the 3rd step,without forming the rectangular knitting parts in the sleeves, thesleeves and the body are joined together along D, K, S of FIG. 3, sothat the neckline is formed by the front and back bodies.

Loops of the neckline (D-E-F-f-e-d of FIG. 2) of the front body 2 a,loops of the neckline forming part 34 (T-U of FIG. 2) of the rectangularknitting part 36 of the left front sleeve 3 a, and loops of the necklineforming part 34 (t-u of FIG. 2) of the rectangular knitting part 36 ofthe right front sleeve 13 a are put in the state of being held on thefront needle bed. The neckline of double jersey is sequentially knittedin this state.

As an alternative to the illustrated embodiment wherein theshoulder-line parts 24 are formed to extend obliquely with respect tothe hem part so that the shoulder drop can be formed by theshoulder-drop knitting parts 25, the shoulder-line parts 24 may beformed to extend parallel with the hem part of the body, without formingthe shoulder-drop knitting parts, so as to extend orthogonally to thestraight-line parts of the sleeve cuff parts.

INDUSTRIAL APPLICABILITY

The present invention is suitable for knitting seamless knitwear ofmixed set-in and raglan sleeves, without one of the bodies beingoversupplied with stitches, by using a flat knitting machine.

1. Knitwear comprising a body and sleeves, characterized by: that one offront and back bodies of the body has armhole parts and shoulder-lineparts extending along one's shoulder line formed when wearing theknitwear, and the other body has slant-line parts extending obliquelyfrom the neckline to side parts of the body, that the front body and theback body are knitted in tubular form in a seamless manner, that thesleeves are knitted in tubular form in a seamless manner, that thesleeves are joined to the armhole parts, the shoulder-line parts,slant-line parts of the front and back bodies in a seamless manner, sothat a neckline is formed by a part of the sleeves, that as to thenumber of courses of front and back bodies knitted in the course ofjoining of the sleeves to the armhole parts of the bodies, the number ofcourses of the body having the slant-line parts knitted is decreasedbelow the number of courses of the body having the shoulder-line partsknitted, that as to the number of courses of front and back bodiesknitted in the course of joining of the sleeves to the shoulder-lineparts of the bodies, the number of courses of the body having theslant-line parts knitted is increased over the number of courses of thebody having the shoulder-line parts knitted, and that while parts of thesleeves to be joined to the shoulder-line parts are knitted with thenumber of courses knitted that can prevent shrink of the parts of thesleeves when joined to the shoulder-line parts, the parts of the sleevesand the shoulder-line parts are joined together, and that a ratio of thenumber of courses for the sleeves and the body having the slant-lineparts to be joined together to the number of courses for the sleeves andthe body having the slant-line parts to be knitted is set so that whenthe sleeves and the body having the slant-line parts are joined togetherto match with each other between the starting locations and the endinglocations for joining them together, no slack is produced in the joiningparts of the sleeves and the body having the slant-line part, so thatthe sleeves and the body are joined together in such a ratio.
 2. Theknitwear according to claim 1, wherein the sleeves knitted to be joinedto the body has knitting parts comprising: armhole-part joining partsjoined to the armhole parts, shoulder-line-part joining parts extendingcontinuously to the armhole joining parts and joined to theshoulder-line parts, slant-line-part joining parts joined to theslant-line parts, and neckline forming parts connecting between upperends of the slant-line-part joining parts and upper ends of theshoulder-line-part joining parts, to form the neckline.
 3. A method ofknitting knitwear with sleeves formed by using a flat knitting machinehaving at least a pair of front and back needle beds extending in atransverse direction and disposed opposite to each other in a crossdirection, at least either of which is capable of being racked in thetransverse direction so that loops can be transferred between the frontand back needle beds, the method comprising the following steps forforming armhole parts and shoulder-line parts extending along one'sshoulder line formed when wearing the knitwear in any one of a frontbody and a back body and also forming slant-line parts extendingobliquely from a neckline to side parts of the body, 1) the first stepof knitting the front body and the back body in tubular form from theirhem parts to starting locations for joining the body and the sleeves andknitting the sleeves in tubular form from their sleeve cuff parts, 2)the second step of joining the sleeves to the armhole parts and theslant-line parts, while knitting the front and back bodies and thesleeves with the same number of courses knitted from starting locationsfor the body and the sleeves to be joined together to locations on thearmhole parts, 3) the third step of increasing the number of courses ofthe body having the shoulder-line parts knitted over the number ofcourses of the body having the slant-line parts knitted from locationsat which the knitting of the armhole parts starts after the second stepto locations at which the knitting of the shoulder-line parts start andalso joining the sleeves to the armhole parts and the slant-line parts,while the sleeves are knitted, and 4) the fourth step of joining thebodies to the sleeves, while the body having the slant-line parts isknitted with an increased number of courses over the number of coursesof the body having the shoulder-line parts knitted and also the sleeveparts joined to the shoulder-line parts are knitted with the number ofcourses knitted that can prevent formation of shrink in the sleevesjoined to the shoulder-line parts, and also setting a ratio of thenumber of courses for the sleeves and the body having the slant-lineparts to be joined together to the number of courses knitted of thesleeves and the body having the slant-line parts so that when thesleeves and the body having the slant-line parts are joined together tomatch with each other between the starting locations and the endinglocations for joining them together, no slack is produced in the joiningparts of the sleeves and the body having the slant-line part, wherebythe sleeves are joined to the shoulder-line parts and the slant-lineparts in such a ratio, while the sleeves are knitted.
 4. The knitwearknitting method according to claim 3, wherein in the fourth step, thesleeves have shoulder-line-part joining parts joined to theshoulder-line parts, and slant-line-part joining parts joined to theslant-line parts, and the sleeves are knitted in such a manner that whenthe joining of these parts is ended, a neckline is formed between theshoulder-line-part joining parts and the slant-line-part joining parts.